Beginning Next Week: InsideCounsel will become part of Corporate Counsel. Bringing these two industry-leading websites together will now give you comprehensive coverage of the full spectrum of issues affecting today's General Counsel at companies of all sizes. You will continue to receive expert analysis on key issues including corporate litigation, labor developments, tech initiatives and intellectual property, as well as Women, Influence & Power in Law (WIPL) professional development content. Plus we'll be serving all ALM legal publications from one interconnected platform, powered by Law.com, giving you easy access to additional relevant content from other InsideCounsel sister publications.

To prevent a disruption in service, you will be automatically redirected to the new site next week. Thank you for being a valued InsideCounsel reader!

Benedict Van made “serial misrepresentations” to many inexperienced investors, the SEC said in its complaint. "Van played on the hopes of investors, tricking them into believing that his companies were on the verge of becoming the next Silicon Valley success stories," Marc Fagel, director of the SEC's San Francisco regional office, said in a press release.

Van owned two Internet companies, hereUare and ecity, and told potential investors they were about to go public. He also made claims that Goldman Sachs was preparing the IPO filing for hereUare. However, in reality, neither company was about to go public, and neither Van nor hereUare had a relationship with Goldman.

Van and the companies agreed to settle the suit without admitting guilt. As part of the settlement, Van will also be permanently barred from serving as an officer or director in a public company.